The King of Bachata

This week’s suggested topic was rather difficult for me. I couldn’t think of one person I would like to write about that was influential to me and from New York City. If it wasn’t that my professor said that the person had to be famous, I honestly would have written about my mother and father. Had they not been New Yorkers I would’ve written about Oprah Winfrey, or Ellen DeGeneres, but that wasn’t an option.

I surfed the web for famous people from New York. A ton of people I knew came up, but none that really stuck out. Then I searched my phone for music I listen to, and then I knew I had it! I would write about Anthony Santos also known as Romeo Santos or as he also liked to call himself "the King of bachata". Romeo is a Dominican and Puerto Rican musician from the Bronx. He is the lead singer in the bachata group, Aventura. Recently Romeo has been doing solo work. As a solo artist he has collaborated with many artists of many different genres. Artist such as Usher, Mark Anthony, Drake, and Nicki Minaj and these are just to name a few. In fact he is so diverse that he appeared on Sesame street singing a song with Elmo called “Quiero ser tu amigo” (“I want to be your friend”) (Cantor-Navas). Readers may say its cliché for a Dominican female from the Bronx to write about Romeo, but I really don’t care.

He came from nothing, like most artists. He grew up in a bad neighborhood, like most artists. He has amazing talent, like most artists. Why Romeo then if his traits are like many other famous New Yorkers, we share the same heritage. Growing up I would wake up to my mother listening to old school bachata and merengue music that would then turn into impromptu dance parties with each other, a mop or whatever was closest to us. I find myself doing the same things with my kids, but to music from Romeo Santos. Small moments like that are cherished. He makes it possible for me to make those memories with my kids. I enjoy some of the older music that my mother listens to, but it’s nothing like Romeos music to me. He is one of the top Spanish music artists and widely accepted in the Spanish community. He wasn’t born in the Dominican Republic and yet is accepted as if he were. Not to mention Romeo is only in his early thirty’s and has reached a status that many Spanish artists take their entire lives to complete.

Many women are physically attracted to him, but that’s not my case. I am captivated by his music. He has a song that relate to many difficult moments I’ve been through. He writes his own songs and the emotion I feel when listening to his music is amazing. He grew up in the Bronx and went to school in Washington Heights as did I. In many of his songs he shouts out neighborhoods that I once lived in or hung out at when I was younger. His new album Formula Vol.2 is my first and only ITunes purchase to this day.

With all that being said I don’t think it’s difficult to see why I choose Romeo as my famous influential New Yorker. I feel there’s a connection in his music, and in his background to me that’s inevitable to overlook when picking a person I believe is influential and from New York.

Work Citied

Cantor-Navas, Judy. “Romeo Santos Makes New Friends on Sesame Street: Watch” Billboard. Billboard. October 8, 2013. Web. March 13, 2014